What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger!

Discover the tools and techniques that will empower you to immediately take charge of your health and well-being in ways you never knew were possible.

I agree to have my personal information transfered to AWeber ( more information )

No spam guarantee.

“What does not kill you makes you stronger.” It’s not just a saying, it is true. Researchers have pinpointed a cell recycling process tied to the positive effects of moderate stress. Meaning you shouldn’t necessarily worry about mild stresses. Anything from going for a jog to spending some time in the sauna can help your health and longevity.

A new study could help explain why brief bodily stresses — going to the sauna or for a run, for example — are good for health and longevity. A study shows that the same cellular process, called autophagy, that’s key for extending lifespan is also critical to the benefits of temporary stress.

Science have known for decades that enduring a short period of mild stress makes simple organisms and human cells better able to survive additional stress later in life. Recently, researchers have discovered a key cellular process that’s critically involved in providing the benefits of temporary stress. The study, published in Nature Communications, creates new avenues to pursue treatments for neurological disorders such as Huntington’s disease.

“We used C. elegans — tiny roundworms used to study fundamental biology — to test the importance of autophagy in becoming stress resistant,” says Caroline Kumsta, Ph.D., staff scientist in Hansen’s lab and lead author of the study. “They’re a great model system because they’re transparent, so you can easily observe what goes on inside them, most of their genes and molecular signaling pathways have functional counterparts in humans, and they only live a few weeks, which greatly facilitate measuring their lifespans.”

Study Details

Researchers found that the cellular process important for boosting lifespan, known as autophagy, is also important for obtaining benefits from stress. Biologists have known for quite a long time that brief episodes of moderate stress empower simple organisms as well as cells within human beings to better survive stress at later points in life. The recent research conducted by scientists at the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute has shed new light on this truth. These researchers found that autophagy really does benefit the body when stress occurs. Their study was recently published in Nature Communications.

What is Autophagy?

Autophagy is best described as a way to recycle cells’ broken, aged and unnecessary structures so they can be used to create new molecules or even burned to create energy. Scientists previously linked this process to longevity. The results of the new research connect stress resistance and long life on a cellular level. Autophagy is a means of recycling cells’ old, broken, or unneeded parts so that their components can be re-used to make new molecules or be burned for energy. The new results suggest that long life and stress resistance are connected at the cellular level

The study’s lead author, staff scientist Caroline Kumsta, Ph.D., states her team made use of roundworms to analyze fundamental biology.

Roundworms were used to gauge the importance of autophagy for stress resistance. Part of the reason why they were used is the fact that they are translucent so scientists can see exactly what occurs inside of them. Furthermore, the majority of roundworms’ molecular signaling pathways and genes are similar to those in human beings. They live a couple of weeks which makes it easier to gauge their lifespans. These worms were incubated at 36 degrees Celsius for a full hour. After this exposure to heat (mild stress), the rate of autophagy heightened across the worms’ tissues. The researchers then exposed these heated worms to a lengthy heat source a couple of days later. The worms that were autophagy-deficient did not obtain benefit from the first mild heat shock. Heated worms with intact autophagy obtained benefit from the heat shock.
Significance of the Results

Researchers concluded that a mild source of heat heightens worms’ ability to endure another condition that gets worse during the aging process: the accumulation of aggregated proteins. Such a buildup is quite stressful for cells. Kumsta made use of worms that replicate Huntington’s disease that causes degeneration in the brain. Exposing worms with sticky neuronal proteins (like those found in patients with Huntington’s disease) to a moderate heat shock decreased protein aggregates. This suggests a moderate amount of heat stress can minimize the toxic accumulation of proteins.

The study is a massive breakthrough as it sets the stage for new approaches to treating neurological disorders like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease as they are also induced by the accumulation of proteins prone to clumping.

Perhaps the induction of autophagy as a result of moderate heat stress at an early stage allows cells to better survive heat exposure at a later point in time.

Heading to the sauna, going for a jog or doing hot yoga might not be a bad idea at all.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Name

Email

Website

Elaine Ferguson, MD is a pioneer in the field of integrative and holistic medicine. She’s a graduate of Brown University, Duke University School of Medicine and completed her post-graduate training at the University of Chicago. During her trailblazing career she served as the founding medical director of the nation’s first Independent Practice Association (IPA) of chiropractors to provide primary care in a managed care setting, and practiced at the Cancer Treatment Centers of America. Also, Dr. Ferguson taught mind-body medicine at one of the nation’s first graduate level holistic medicine programs. She is the host of the acclaimed PBS pledge special SuperHealing Secrets currently airing nationwide, and has written several books, including the international bestseller SuperHealing: Engaging Your Mind, Body, and Spirit to Create Optimal Health and Well-Being. As a wellness consultant, and speaker, she’s lectured extensively at conferences, universities and medical schools, consulted with businesses, government agencies, not-for-profits, faith based organizations, and testified on a Congressional alternative medicine panel.

Disclaimer
The information contained on this website is for informational purposes only. It has not been evaluated by the FDA. The information is not intended to prevent, treat, diagnose or cure any illness or disease. All material provided on www.drelaine.com is only for the education of the reader. You should always consult with your physician or other licensed health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition regarding your health and/or medical condition, and before undertaking any changes in your exercise, eating habits, diet, physical therapy or other health program. This website does not recommend self-management of one’s health care. Images, text and logic are copyright protected. All rights are explicitly reserved without prejudice, and no part of this website may be reproduced except by written consent. Copyright. All rights remain in force. Removing this notice forfeits all rights to recourse.